ANIMAL lovers are offering equipment and cash in a bid to keep a much-loved wildlife rescue centre open this winter.

Oak and Furrows has to raise ÂŁ50,000 by February to keep going after being overwhelmed with by the cost of caring for almost 5,000 patients this year.

Supporters have already managed to raise in the region of ÂŁ25,000 towards the target, but the pressure is still on with around six weeks until the deadline.

“We’re very pleased with the response,” said chief executive Charles Pope. “I’m absolutely delighted but the fact is we are still at 20 per cent of our target, which is not brilliant. There is still a way to go.

He said people had even gone to the trouble of visiting the centre and asking the staff what they needed. Other shad been bringing in tanks, blankets and food.

“It is quite amazing.” He said. “But that is only part of the issue. The other problem is money.”

The centre, which is based in a corner of the former RAF Blakehill, now a Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve, needed to be heated.

The lease also had to be paid, as did staff wages, income tax and other costs.

Medicines and vets’ bills were another expense. “They are very good with us and they support us, but it still costs us money.”

He explained the biggest cost was the staff, but without them the centre would not be running at all.

“We definitely need to keep it going. The number of creatures coming in is just astounding and it is only going to get worse as we go into spring,” he said.

So far the centre has taken in around 125 hedgehogs who are either ill or two underweight to survive the winter.

Staff have also been caring for several deer. One, a baby Muntjac dubbed Newbie is doing well and set to be released sometime after Christmas. But another, thought to have been attacked by a dog or a fox, had to be put down. Although its neck injuries had healed, the damage had left its head at the wrong angle.

As a result it would be unable to graze.

Carer Emma Hickey said: “Without us it never would have had that second chance. We try our best. Everything that we get in has a second chance.”

The appeal has celebrity backing from poet Pam Ayres and otter conservationist Daphne Neville and anyone who wants to help or donate can do so through the charity’s website at oandf.co.uk or by calling 01793 751412.